I've conducted the Boston Pops! Imagine that! Me! Maya Angelou! I've sang and danced at La Scala!

Don't kneel please. Sometimes people put people on pedestals so they can see them more clearly and knock them off more easily

You are the sum total of everything you’ve ever seen, heard, eaten, smelled, been told, forgot - it’s all there. Everything influences each of us, and because of that I try to make sure that my experiences are positive.

Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future, and renders the present inaccessible.

While one may encounter many defeats, one must not be defeated.

Frequently, I have been asked how I got to be this way. How did I, born black in a white country, poor in a society where wealth is adored and sought after at all costs, female in an environment where only large ships and some engines are described favourably by using the female pronoun-how did I get to be Maya Angelou?